Lloyds Bank is set to close 49 branches and cut 520 more jobs as part of a new three-year restructuring plan.

The new plan, which is designed to cut costs and improve shareholder returns, was announced in October of 2014 and has resulted in about 5,500 net job cuts and 153 branch closures in 2016 alone. This net figure for the 2016 job cuts includes retail, commercial banking, insurance, and consumer finance roles as well as taking the 145 new roles that will be a part of those job areas under the new plan into account.

“Some of the job losses stem from Lloyds cutting its cloth, but some are simply about the ongoing rise of digital banking services, which are reducing the need for a high street presence. Job losses are never positive news, but what Lloyds is doing at least in part reflects an ongoing shift in how customers transact with their banks,” senior analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, Laith Khalaf, told the BBC in October 2016.

Lloyds plans to implement the 49 branch closures beginning in the first quarter of 2017; a new mobile banking system will be in place for some areas affected by the branch closures.

Lloyds reported in October 2016 that their third-quarter profits were largely unchanged compared to last year in spite of the expected decrease in earnings after the Brexit vote in June.

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